Pokemon is Prime

Tim Globokar, Opinion Writer

As children, many of us played the popular game, Pokemon, in our free time; both alone and with friends. I will never abandon my first starter Pokemon, Charmander. I spent my childhood wandering the region of Kanto on my gameboy, watching the TV show with friends, or battling a gym in my dreams. I will forever regard the world of Pokemon as one of the most influential aspects of my early life. Not only was it a fun game, but it also taught me many applicable life lessons.

First, it’s not always about the destination, but about the journey. The point of the game was to beat all of the gyms, beat the elite four, and to catch them all. This was always a great achievement if completed, but the real fun in the game was capturing Pokemon and watching them develop into your own unique team. So, enjoy the journey, every single one will be unique.

Next, I learned to not always count out the little guys. In the game, the most useless Pokemon seemed to be Magikarp. The only move it knew was splash, which did absolutely nothing. The actual Pokemon was extremely weak. However, if you stuck with it and slowly leveled it up, it becomes one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, Gyrados. Some people may look weak and helpless now, but someday they could become one of the most influential people in the world. Don’t count anyone out, and be kind to everyone.

Finally, being “bad” might be hip and cool but it won’t get you anywhere in life. In the game and the TV show, Team Rocket is the “bad” guys but they parade around as if they are the coolest kids around. The problem is they never win. They cannot even capture one Pikachu. You may think that riding around on your high horse, picking on the little guy, and doing things you shouldn’t do are cool and will gain you respect, but it won’t get you anywhere. Besides other Team Rocket members, the team struggled to make friends. If you do bad things to people, you will struggle to find people to support you throughout life.

The list goes on and on. Pokemon is the greatest game and TV show to ever exist. It teaches kids many important life lessons to use. Just as it says in the theme song, “I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was.” Pokemon has taught me to be the best